When fines were slapped on 11 Sydney real estate agencies last weekend for allegedly underquoting on property to prospective buyers, the uproar was loud and long. The industry’s regulator, the Office of Fair Trading, was damning about their conduct and consumers were outraged – but many of the agents were even more incensed.
“We’re now in the ludicrous position where getting good results for vendors can jeopardise our careers,” says McGrath Inner West agent Simon Pilcher, whose office is one of those being fined. “We’re sometimes in the situation where five people turn up for an auction and bid and they’re all determined to get it and the price goes haywire.
“How can you accurately predict the price in those circumstances? But unfortunately, now, that could be a career-threatening result.”
Michael Finger, Ray White Double Bay director, whose agency was also fined, was similarly infuriated by the accusations that a price had been quoted too low to hopeful purchasers.
“It’s such a changeable market at the moment, it’s absolutely impossible to accurately predict what’s going to happen from flats to flats or houses to houses,” he says.
“It isn’t an exact science. We had one property recently that went 15 to 30 per cent over the price of the property next door that had sold just weeks earlier. I’m a valuer and there’s no way in the world I can appraise a property with complete accuracy in the current market.”
Cheers mates! Take care..
